A record 64 percent of Americans rate the honesty and ethical standards of members of Congress as low or very low - even worse than telemarketers and lobbyists, according to a new Gallup poll Monday.

The only other time another group of professionals received that low a rating – since the public opinion firm first began surveying the issue in 1976 — were lobbyists in 2008. In 2002 and 1988, 63 percent of people said telemarketers and car salespeople, respectively, were ethically challenged.

In this year’s poll, lobbyists had the second-worst reputation after members of Congress – 62 percent of people said they would rate lobbyists’ honesty and ethical standards as low or very low. Telemarketers were next at 53 percent, followed by car salespeople at 47 percent.

The professions perceived as having the highest ethical standards were nurses, pharmacists and medical doctors. Eighty-four percent of people said nurses had high or very high honesty and ethical standards, follow by 73 percent who said the same of pharmacists and 70 percent for medical doctors.

Journalists were also in the mix, receiving a low or very low honesty and ethical standards rating from 27 percent of people.

This year, just 7 percent of people gave members of Congress, lobbyists and car salespeople a high or very high rating in honesty and ethical standards.

In 2001, only 22 percent of Americans gave members of Congress a low or very low rating for honesty and ethical standards. The figure has been on a steady rise in the course of the last ten years before peaking at this year’s record high.

The Gallup poll was conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 1 among 1,012 adults ages 18 and older, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Monday’s survey follows last week’s survey that showed Americans’ anti-incumbent sentiment towards Congress at a 19-year high, with 76 percent saying most lawmakers on Capitol Hill don’t deserve to be reelected. The approval rating for Congress was also stuck at a historical low level of 13 percent in November.